PLUS BUZZWORTHY “THE RANCH” STARS “THE PATH” TALK ABOUT CROSSOVER EPISODE EVERYTHING “SUPERGIRL” FROM A LOVE OF SUPERGIRL, MEET WINE TO A PASSION THE FLASH FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION HOUSTON, WE HAVE A GOLF TOURNAMENT! WILL J.B. HOLMES FIND HIS NAME AT NEW SERIES THE TOP OF THE JON FOO ISN’T JACKIE CHAN, LEADER BOARD? BUT HE’S IN “RUSH HOUR” FOLIO Connect to these shows within this magazine! Courtesy of Gracenote March 27 - April 2, 2016 C What’s HOT this Week! Click to jump to these contents featured sections! YOURTVLINK “THE RANCH” CELEBRITY is a “That ‘70s Show” 4 CARRIE PRESTON reunion is happy being “Crowded” 5 JAMES PUREFOY Purefoy feels like an ‘old pickup’ to Hendricks’ Bentley 6 SARAH GRAHAM A chef’s love of lions 8 JUSSIE SMOLLETT “Empire” star doesn’t like “THE PATH” auditions A crisis of faith 9 JAMES YOUNG Getting to know the “SUPERGIRL” kitchen fixer The epic story of when superheroes collide 17 FOOD 7 KATHIE LEE GIFFORD Wine love SPORTS THE STORY! 18-19 J.B. HOLMES Holmes hoping Houston “RUSH HOUR” Open is simply elementary brings another movie premise to TV REALITY MOVIES IN EVERY ISSUE 16 “INDEPENDENT LENS” 20-21 Featuring: Theatrical 22-23 Featuring: Our top focuses on magic’s Review, Our top DVD pick, suggested programs to watch Amazing Randi and Coming Soon on DVD. this week! Page 2 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote March 27 - April 2, 2016 Editor's choice STORY S It’s ‘Rush Hour’ at CBS with new series version of action- comedy movies BY JAY BOBBIN If a movie franchise is popular enough, it still can yield a television-series spinoff some years later. Shows based on “Lethal Weapon” and “The Exorcist” are in the works, and another example is about to debut. Nine years after the last of the three action-comedy films that teamed Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, CBS’ version of “Rush Hour” premieres Thursday, March 31. Justin Hires succeeds Tucker as self-styled Los Angeles police detective Carter, whose manner immediately clashes with that of his new partner: martial-arts-skilled Lee (Jon Foo), who arrives in the City of Angels to probe his sister’s presumed death. Pictured: Justin Hires The duo gets other missions assigned by their no- that. And I’ve never laughed so hard as hanging out with nonsense boss (“Hot in Cleveland” and “Just Shoot Me!” these guys.” alum Wendie Malick), and they receive help along the way from Carter’s former partner (Aimee Garcia, “Dexter”) Foo comes by his physical agility naturally, since he and streetwise cousin (Page Kennedy, “Backstrom”). explains, “I started out as a martial artist working in the With TV veterans Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs,” “Spin City”) circus. I did performances with the London Chinese and Steve Franks (“Psych”) among the show’s executive Acrobats and the Flying Dudes Rock and Roll Circus producers, other “Rush Hour” stars certainly include the and then went to Hong Kong and Asia and Thailand, so I stunt players, since the first hour alone indicates there’s started with martial arts and then ended up doing action plenty for them to do. movies.” If viewers aren’t familiar with Foo, though, he understands. “This is my first TV show,” he notes. “This is “It is risky dice to roll,” Lawrence allows, “because if it’s my first time having any kind of experience like this.” an iconic movie that people like, you can’t knock fans off of it, but I think what you hope is that a title brings people Should Foo and Hires be compared to Chan and Tucker to check out your show and give it a look. And I still want – which seems inevitable, particularly since a “Rush Hour to believe that if you cast it well and write it well and act it 4” movie reportedly has been discussed – they maintain well and produce it well, the people will stay long after the they’re ready for it. “Chris Tucker is literally one of the references to the feature (films) are gone.” reasons that I got into comedy,” stand-up comic Hires says, “so it’s a huge honor and a privilege to be able to Franks adds of the main “Rush Hour” characters and step into those shoes. Honestly, I just feel like if I bring my actors, “I like the humanity that these guys bring to this own comedic voice to this role, eventually, the audience world. I love the guys. I think it’s real fun. For eight years will see that there’s a different Detective Carter. And on ‘Psych,’ we were doing a version of the buddy comedy, hopefully, they’ll grow to love me somewhat comparable kind of. Here’s these two guys that were just sort of to Chris Tucker.” meant to be together, and this felt like a fun extension of Click or tap on icon for more! March 27 - April 2, 2016 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote Page 3 C CELEBRITY BY JAY BOBBIN’S Q&A CARRIE PRESTON of ‘Crowded’ Sunday on NBC Is being a series lead in “Crowded” a big deal for you? Yeah, it is a big deal. It’s certainly one of the things that attracted me to this job. I knew I was ready to take the next step; I’ve been playing these great supporting roles, but I was like, “I want to be on the (show-promoting) poster.” I want to have that responsibility, and I think I’m ready for it. Your husband, “Person of Interest’s” Michael Emerson, took a similar route in television with such shows as “Lost.” Did he give you any tips about making the leap to series star? I’ve certainly watched him over the last five years with that, and the responsibility that comes with it is bigger. Sometimes he will say, with a little bit of whimsy, “I kind of wish I was just doing the supporting thing.” A lot more is asked of you – not that he ever complains about it – but there is something that is different. I’m starting to feel that. At the same time, “Crowded” makes you part of an ensemble cast again. Do you like keeping that aspect? When you’re doing the single-camera (drama) stuff, you’re not there all the time with your cast. When I was on “True Blood,” it was like three or four different shows, and everybody else was on a vampire show. With this, we’re all there every day, doing the work together ... and we present it to the audience together. I like that. Also with single-camera work, you’re in the hands of the editors and directors, and there are many different ways to cut a scene together. Sometimes you’ll make a deliberate choice and it won’t make it into the (final) cut, or you’ll do something you didn’t think was anything, and they’ll make a “moment” out of it. When you’re doing this (a comedy filmed with multiple cameras), everything counts. FOLIO Click or tap on icon for more! Page 4 YOUR TV LINK Courtesy of Gracenote March 27 - April 2, 2016 CELEBRITY C GEORGE DICKIE’S Q&A Some actors say that when they do JAMES accents for a role, they have to stay in it all day. Is that the case with you? I’m not like that. Maybe I pay for it. I PUREFOY don’t know if the accent works or it doesn’t but it seems to work. I like to of ‘Hap and Leonard’ think about accents as voices and I Wednesday on think that’s a different thing. An accent Sundance Channel is something that lots of people speak. A voice is the thing that only one person has. And I think if you’re playing a person, you’re playing a single person, so an accent, you know, they get melded with different things. I used to have a strong West Country accent in England, it’s like that (drawls). That’s how they speak. I used to speak like that (drawls) when I was 17. On “Hap and Leonard,” is ex-wife Trudy smarter than your character, Hap? What she’s got on Hap is that she knows he loves her, so she will always have power over him. You know those women. We’ve all been there. I’ve been there. The woman who you just can’t help loving. And I’m sure there are women in my life who if they came back now, I would struggle. Even though I’m a married man, they would kick something in me ... that little fundamental piece in your heart that you remember from when you were a kid or when you were a teenager or when you were a young man. That doesn’t go away. It’s not that she’s smarter than him, it’s just that she has that over him and she knows that. It’s power. And she’s played by Christina Hendricks (laughs), so she looks like Christina Hendricks, for Christ’s sakes. What more can you say? And semi-recognizable from “Mad Men.” Yeah, also Christina is disarmingly intelligent and beautiful. And I was just saying to somebody else, it was like she would come on set and Michael Click or tap on icon for more! (Kenneth Williams, his co-star) and I are like a couple of old pickups and along purrs the Bentley.